Stereo Hearts
by SnapDragonStories
Summary: Dragged into a war she is completely new to, Nightshade learns that she had known so little about the war and Cybertron. But maybe a certain communications officer isn't as emotionless as he seems, and perhaps the two can help each other in the most unimaginable of ways. Soundwave x OC
1. Chapter 1: The End of One Life

**Chapter 1: The End of One Life**

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><p><em>"<em>_RUN! QUICKLY EVERYONE RUN! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"_

_"__HURRY, WE NEED TO PUT OUT THE FIRES!"_

_"__AQUASHOCK! WHERE ARE YOU? AQUASHOCK! PLEASE, HAS ANYONE SEEN MY DAUGHTER? SHE'S ONLY 5! AQUASHOCK!"_

_"__HELP ME! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! M-MY FRIEND...HE'S DEAD!"_

_"__MY HOUSE, IT'S DESTROYED!"_

_"__EVERYTHING'S ON FIRE! OH PRIMUS! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?"_

_"__MOMMY! WHERE ARE YOU MOMMY? I'M SCARED, WHERE ARE YOU!" _

_"LOOK! OVER THERE! IT'S ANOTHER BOMB!"_

_"__GET DOWN!" _

_BOOM!_

Everyone dived to the ground as the distant bomb landed, the shock waves shaking the ground and causing shrapnel and clumps of rubble to fly across the landscape. Several cries of pain were heard as bots were impaled and crushed, some killed instantly, and some lay in pain with metal sticking out of their frame.

The tremors subsided, and gasps and cries of anguish come from the crowd as over as a huge mushroom shaped cloud rose from over the buildings.

One young femme looking in horror with the rest, the bomb must have killed thousands of civilians like them. Quickly, panic struck once more and everyone rushed around, trying to find shelter.

The femme stumbled to her feet and ran as fast as she could in the direction of her home.  
>Just that morning, she had set off to her school like every other day, but it had become quickly apparent that something was wrong.<br>Alarms had soon gone off and the teachers had ushered everyone into classrooms, telling them to hide under their tables until told to leave. No one had no idea what was going on.

That was...until the first bomb dropped.

The femme's pedes were beginning to hurt from the hot ground, and her sensitive wings were sore from the heat, but she didn't notice. All she could focus on was the shattered remains of her home city. Buildings were falling apart and everyone was screaming in terror, trying to escape the explosions.

Praxus had always been her home, and her family were very comfortable there. They knew all the neighbours, her creators had well paying jobs, she had lots of friends and she was excelling in all her classes. Her family were very proud of her computer skills as her father was an excellent hacker, and he was teaching her everything he knew. She stunned her I.T teacher with her talent of creating viruses, and she had a little medal in her room for it.

But now her school was gone, blown up just as they had got outside, and what really brought her out of her unbelieving daze was the fact that one of the sparkling classes on the top floor hadn't made it out in time.

Shaking her head free of those thoughts, she ran through the streets on a route she knew so well, only now the surroundings were unrecognisable. Houses were nothing but rubble, and fires were everywhere while the normally grey sky was orange and cloudy and soot was falling like snow.

She kept running.

With no familiar surroundings, she had to rely on her memory to find her way home, but she thought she was getting close as she had reached the residential area of town. She turned a corner but a blazing inferno was blocking her way, so she quickly turned back to find a new path.  
>She tried to ignore the image of the body melting in the fire.<p>

Finally, after 5 cycles of running and dodging pellets of sharp metal she found her street, and ran down it to find her house.  
>Her sprint slowed to a jog as she passed the other houses. Every one of them was nothing but rubble, yet she kept hope in her mind that maybe her house was still intact.<p>

It wasn't.

xxx

She stopped to look at the pile of smoking debris. There was nothing different between this house and all the others on the street. In fact, every house in a 5 mile radius was the same smoking pile of remains.  
>There was nothing she could salvage, it had all been destroyed, and there was no way that anyone could still be in there alive. Her parents were most likely dead, crushed as the house collapsed.<p>

Up until that point, everything had been going in fast forward. She had no time to think or reflect on anything, she had just been running. All she had been trying to do was find her home, and ignoring everything around her as much as she could.

Now everything had crashed down on her and all the memories she had suppressed had come to mind. She fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands, tears running down her face and her vents hiccoughing loudly. The sounds around her were blurred, as if through a muffler, and everything seemed slowed down, but she could still make out the whistle of bombs in the far distance and the sound of peoples screams.

Her creators had always said the Great War would never reach Praxus, but it seems they were wrong. Everyone was wrong. And now everything she once knew was gone.

"Why? Why has this happened? I was gonna have a normal life! I was gonna be hacker like my dad." She sobbed. "Dad! You didn't tell me anything about the war because you said it would never involve me! Well now what! What do I do now! I don't even know who did this, or why they did this!" She felt tired and woozy, and she was on the verge of collapsing. "I'm gonna miss you mummy...daddy...I love you." She whispered, and her eyes began to flicker.

She must have fallen asleep because the next time she opened her eyes, she was lying on the ground and the sky was dark. The bombs had stopped now but smoke was rising everywhere she looked, and even though there were no street lights anymore, the city was illuminated by fires.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, but immediately doubled over, violently coughing soot out her vents. Her throat was sore and her wings felt like they had been drilled into and rubbed raw with sand paper. It was probably small bits of rubble landing on them that caused that feeling and sometimes the young femme wished they weren't so sensitive, but it was something that came with being a seeker. It was a trait she inherited from her mother, who was a seeker herself while her sparkmate was a ground vehicle.

A shout caught her attention and she leaned her head back to see what was going on. In her upside-down view she spotted a small group of mechs running past, calling for other 'Vehicons', whatever they were.

She slowly managed to stand up, and went very lightheaded and dizzy, but she held her forehead and began to run after the group. After all, there was nothing left for her at home but grief.  
>She soon caught up to them as she was pretty fast, and she began to call for there attention, waving her hand above her head.<br>The group noticed her panicked shouts and stopped, and that's when she realised something very strange.

They all looked the same.

Every one of them was purple and black, with a silver face mask and a red visor. Her father never liked bots who wore visors, saying they must have something to hide and weren't trustworthy, but her mother always said that he was just prejudice and that there were plenty of bots with visors who were perfectly nice.

The leader of the group walked up to her with an air of authority and she suddenly felt very intimidated and shrunk back. Maybe her father was right, she should be wary of mechs with visors. He stopped in front of her and stared down at her. She couldn't tell what he was thinking as he could show no emotions, but she felt like he was sizing her up and she took a step back in fright. However, seeing her fear the mech crouched down to be at eye level with her.  
>"Hi there, I'm drone D7-4K3, but you can call me Drake" He spoke in a kind voice which surprised the young seeker, but she scolded herself for being so stupid and judging the mech before she had met him.<p>

"Hia" She said nervously and she held out her hand for him to shake. As he shook it, the other mechs gathered closer to them and nodded in greeting.  
>"What are you doing all alone? And why did you call for us?" One other questioned and her lip began to quiver.<p>

"I called for you because I thought you might be searching for survivors." She croaked, looking down and fiddled with her hands. "And I don't really know what to do now. Everything I know is in flames...literally." She looked up with a pleading face as she tried to hold in tears. "Please let me come with you! I don't know what to do!" Her voice broke at the end and the leader stood back up, wrapping her up in a tight hug. She couldn't help but silently sob into his chest plates.

"You don't need to worry, you can come with us. We got stuck out here after a crash land but we've got a plan." He rubbed her back in comforting circles and her hitching vents slowly returned to normal. She sniffed and looked up at him, and his visor glowed brighter in what she assumed was a smile.

The group began to walk away and Drake let go of her, turning away to follow, but he stopped, noticing she wasn't coming. He held out a hand for her to grab and grinning, she jogged forwards to grab it, glad to have a group to make her feel secure. The group was joined by other identical mechs who Drake had told her were called Vehicons or Eradicons, and they all began wandering the ruins of Praxus, looking for shelter. The band of mechs were all very interested in the seeker, and they all kept asking about what her school was like and how it felt to be able to do what ever she liked. She was rather confused by these questions, but after she asked a little about them, she found out that the majority of Cybertron were ruled by a very unjust system. A system that meant that those higher up got all the power and anyone below that were treated as vermin. Amazed by the new information, she discovered that the group she was with were part of a group called Decepticons, who had been inspired by a gladiator called Megatron.

She remembered that she and her dad once watched the gladiator battles on the T.V, and they had a brief conversation on Megatron's views and ideas. If she remembered correctly, Megatron was aiming for a society where everyone was treated as equals. The Vehicons agreed with her when she asked, and soon they had gone into a passionate discussion on what Cybertron should be like and how they were going to help the great Megatron achieve this dream.

She didn't even stop to think that the bombing, the Great War and Megatron were connected. She didn't know that much about it anyway, only the small things her dad had told her to stop her from being too curious, yet keeping her in the dark from the horrible truth.

After a while, a mech who happened to be called Gavin had been talking so long about Megatron, everyone had got rather bored and irritated, and he wasn't showing any signs of shutting up. Another bot; Dill, got so irritated that he pulled a piece of fabric from his subspace and shoved it into his mouth slit so he couldn't speak anymore. The rest of the bots cheered, and the femme giggled as Gavin took the fabric out and sulked. She was enthusiastically telling the group that she was the only bot in her school that could create viruses from scratch when one of them asked.

"How come you remember our names? We all look identical yet you remember which of us is which." The rest of the group murmured in approval of the question. No one else they had met was able to tell them apart.

"Oh! Well I didn't at first, but then I realised I could recognise each of you by your energy signatures. Each one is different, so I just logged your names in instead of the code that comes up."

They were quite surprised that the femme had realised she could do that, as no one else had bothered to care. Then Drake, who had been silent for most of the trip turned around.

"I just realised, we haven't asked your name yet."

"Oh, you don't know yet? My name's Nightshade." She grinned.

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><p><strong>Well, I hope you are liking this so far. I will probably be updating this rather soon so see you at the next chapter. Remember to review as those always make my day! <strong>

**And also, the first person to give me the answer to this question can give me a funny idea for a character to do. E.G. Dreadwing is terrified of needles and he had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the medbay to get a shot.**

**The question is... What is the the universal greeting?**

**Write the answer and the idea down in the review section. :)**


	2. Chapter 2: It's Bloody Cold In Here!

**Authors Note:** Hi there guys! It's great to see so many of you were interested in this story, and the reviews really were great.

Talking about reviews, last chapter I gave the question "What is the universal greating?"  
>The answer was 'Ba-weep-gra-na-weep-ninny-bong.' And AutoTechnoCon98 got it right!<p>

Whoooo! Anyway, that means that you can suggest any idea that you want in the story. Any head-cannon, funny chapter idea, a character you want to appear, you just write it down in to review box, or you can PM me.

Anyway, I thought I should give a little key to terms I use in my story so you guys know what I'm talking about.

**Terms used in this story: **

Stella cycle = A year

Decacycle = 2 weeks

Solar cycle = A day

Orbital cycle = A night

Cycle = A minute

Klik = A second

V16 = This is a term used to describe a transformer who has grown to over 1600 years of age. 1600 is approximately 18 in human terms, and it is seen as when a transformer had become a young adult. Once a bot has reached 1600, they are legally allowed to drink high grade energon, interface, and get body modifications or upgrades.

Interface = sex (Don't look at me like that!)

Now on with the story!

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: It's Bloody Cold In Here!<strong>

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><p>"So, who are you guys, how did you get here, what's your plan to get back, and where did you come from anyway? Why do you all look the same, are you all related-"<p>

"Whoa Whoa, Slow down there kiddo, you gone hurt yo'self. Crikey, you don't stop with 'ose questions do ya?" Trev joked, holding his hands out as if trying to protect himself.

The group had eventually found a sheltered spot and had begun to settle down to sleep, but Nightshade; having had already slept, wasn't tired at all, and was busy interrogating the nearest Vehicon with questions.

"You know, your accent is funny." She giggled, pulling up her knees and resting her chin on them.  
>Trev tipped his head to the side. "Well yo' accent is funny too. I've never heard a bot sound so...so...British." Nightshade gasped dramatically.<br>"I do not sound British, I've just been taught to use proper grammar." She crossed her arms and pouted.

Nightshade had been told by everyone around her that she sounded very British, and she felt really annoyed anytime someone would mention it. She was teased constantly, especially if she corrected anyone on there grammar, but it was a sort of pet hate to her.  
>Trev scoffed. "Pfff yeah right, you're the most British soundin' femme I' ever met. Hey guys, you think this femme here sound British, right?" He asked the mechs lying next to him.<br>"Yeah, sorry Nightshade, but you do have a pretty strong British accent." One mech called, not bothering to turn his head. "Now if you will excuse us, but we've been awake since 4 this morning and I'm about ready to go into stasis lock from exhaustion."

Nightshade sighed and turned back to Trev. "So anyway, as I was saying-"

"Oh boy, here we go." He face palmed. "Say, as you're obviously not gonna sleep any time soon, why don't you get'cha self washed. You're filthy." The femme was obviously not tired, and the Vehicon knew he would get no sleep either.  
>"But there isn't any water?"She asked curiously.<br>"Oh don't worry." He began to stand up, and reached down to pull her with him. "This used to be a house, so it should have had a wash room. I'll show ya' a neat trick to get water from the ground." She looked amazed, and began to follow him as they tiptoed through the recharging drones.

The place they were staying in was hardly recognisable as a house; all the walls had fallen down, leaving only the roof still in place, balancing from 3 iron pillars. One of them had crumbled and was currently being used as a pillow for some Vehicons, while others were using their friends to lay their heads on.

Trev led the femme though the dark to a small pile of rubble, detached from the rest of the structure which she assumed was where the wash racks would have been. It didn't take long to move some of the heaver pieces away to clear part of the floor, where they found the pipes from the broken shower leading into the ground. The mech gestured to Nightshade to watch, and he began to dig into the ground with his servos. The seeker looked up at the sky in vague sadness and sighed loudly. The stars used to be visible, but there was too much smoke in the atmosphere to see anything.

"Now, water always comes through pipes to get to the showers, 'n those pipes are stationed under ground, so to find 'em you gotta dig. D'ya see?" Nightshade nodded, still looking up, but something shiny caught her eye, and she turned to see a shimmering purple square of light in amongst the debris. Curiosity pulled her to it, and to her surprise, she found it was a mirror; amazingly, only slightly cracked. She pulled it from the ground and set it upright, leaning against a part of the wall.

"Primus, I look terrible." She muttered to herself as she looked at her refection. She normally had vibrant purple armour on her outer frame, with shining sliver plating on everything else, and diamond shaped bio lights travelling down her neck, waist, legs and arms, which glowed dark purple. It must have been these the mirror first reflected. She also had sharp, silver wings which ended with a thin pointed tip like an arrow. However now she was so covered in dust and soot that she was almost completely brown, and her bio lights glowed very faintly under the coating of muck.

"Ah ha! Found it, come on over here kiddo."

Taking one last look at her reflection, the seeker walked over to the Vehicon calling her. She felt drowsiness begin to settle in, but now she was up and about, she couldn't get tired. She shook her head and crouched next to Trev, looking at the deep hole he had made.

"Now, in here's the water pipe, so all's we need to do is..." He trailed off and transformed his hand into a laser gun. Nightshade was shocked; she hadn't seen anyone be able to do that before. However, she was more surprised when he took aim and fired at the pipe.

She had been leaning over the hole to get a good look, but as soon as the blast hit the metal, a huge burst of water rocketed up and hit her slap bang in the face, knocking her backwards into a roly-poly.

She landed on her back, and squirted water out her mouth like a fountain as Trev laughed at her. She tried to look annoyed at him but it was difficult as she suppressing a snigger herself. Her reflection in the mirror caught her eye, and she saw that she was still covered in soot, except for her head, which was completely clean. It looked like someone had dumped a bucket of purple paint on her helm, which made her completely lose it and she snorted loudly. Trev laughed even louder and she joined in, coming back over to where the water was still shooting out the ground. She cupped her hands and caught some of the water, splashing it onto her front, but all it did was make a tiny patch on her chest plates slightly damp, and she looked at it with an expressionless stare.

"Well this is going to take until I die." She sighed.

"Oh you're just bein' a wimp. Get in there." Trev abruptly pushed her and she stumbled into the jet of water. She yelped and fell over as a huge force of freezing cold water hit her right between the legs, shocking the life out of her. She lost her footing and fell onto her front, on top of the gush of water, and she was pushed onto her side from the power of it. Numbness seeped into her joints from the icy cold water, and her frame tingled from the temperature drop.

"What the scrap do you think you're playing at, huh?" She squealed, clutching her sore port cover and staggering towards the drone, her wings flat against her back and trembling from the cold. "That really hurt mate."  
>"But now you're clean, and I must say, you sure do look smashin' kid." Trev said, putting a hand on his hip. The seeker walked stiffly over to the mirror again and sure enough, she was completely dust free. However, her paint still looked awful from all the scratches and dents she had acquired that morning.<p>

She hummed in displeasure, and turned to inspect herself. The bitter cold air was freezing her even more, and she shook uncontrollably, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Hmm, maybe that wasn't the best idea." Trev mused and Nightshade glared at him.  
>"Oh gee, you think?" The night was getting late and Nightshade stifled a yawn, but Trev still managed to notice and linked arms with her, pulling her back to the main room.<p>

They found a free spot on the floor and Nightshade lay down on her front, her wings shining with droplets of water. Trev was exhausted, and he was so close to drifting off he could feel his body becoming weightless. He became completely immersed in the feeling, until...

"So, what exactly is this plan you were talking about, and why did you crash anyway? I don't really understand what's going on."

He groaned, and looked at her incredulously. "Y-"

"Don't worry about it Trev, I'll take over from here" Trev internally threw a party at Drake's arrival, and dropped his head with a loud _clang_ as he instantly fell asleep.

Nightshade made room on the floor, and Drake sat down next to her. He had a very calm and knowledgeable tone of voice, so the shivering seeker had a strong hunch she was going to get a good answer.

"Nightshade, you are almost certainly aware of the war that is going on at this very moment, and has been going on for over 3000 years now, yes?" He asked.  
>"Well, sort of. I know that there's a war going on, but that's about it really." She admitted, rubbing one of her head fins. Drake's visor flashed in surprise.<br>"Really? That's all you know?" She nodded, and looked concerned.  
>"Is that wrong?"<br>"Well, seeing as the war has been going on for a very long time, and has involved just about everybody on Cybertron, I am shocked that you have heard nothing about it. It sounds to me that your parents kept you in the dark so as not to worry you. A foolish move if you ask me, seeing as you are now stuck with no information. But, I will try to give you the basics." The seeker sat up to show she was listening, and rested her head on her fist.  
>"I have a question first though." Drake said. "What do you know about Cybertron?"<br>Nightshade didn't have to think much to answer. "Well, I know where I live...used to live. And I know that if you travel a few miles from there, you reach my school. Umm, I know that Praxus is a city." She paused. "That's it. I never went anywhere else."

It was obvious Drake was alarmed, and Nightshade began to grow nervous.  
>"Does that mean I'm stupid? Because I know half the periodic table, and how to do Pythagoras. <em>And<em> I can count to 3 in ancient Cybertronian." She said.

"Actually that's pretty cool." Someone muttered to her left.

"Oh no, you're not stupid by a long shot" Drake said. "But it's obvious you're clueless to anything going around you. I mean, have you really never heard or seen anything other than your street?"

"Erm, well a little bit farther than my street, maybe a few more streets to our school and other shops, but basically yeah."

Another drone sat up and regarded the pair in thought. "You know, it might not mean much but I did hear a rumour." He added, tapping his chin. Drake looked interested so he continued. "Many of us were wondering why Praxus had never got involved in the war, and we met a lot of mechs that said they had found some information on the schools and councils. They said that they were training up all the sparklings and younglings in the city to know general information, and keeping them oblivious to the war around them. This meant never letting them out of there city and keeping them, in theory, in a safe protective bubble. Then they were going to set them off in spaceships across the galaxy."

Nightshade thought for a moment. "You know, they did teach us how to fly a shuttle. A simple one mind you, not a spaceship, but they did refuse to tell us why."

"But why would they want to send all the sparklings into space? That seems irrational. But again, that does seem to be the trend with these bots." Drake mused.

The drone on the opposite side of Nightshade turned his head to join the chat. "I heard that story too, but I heard that the Praxus council thought that the war would utterly destroy Cybertron." He scoffed. "Like Megatron will ever let that happen. However, I guess they figured that if they sent the younglings to other planets, then the race of Cybertronians would continue, and they would be safe from the war. Bunch of weirdos if you ask me."

"Hey, those weirdos were my family and elders thank you very much." Nightshade scolded, but the Vehicon chuckled.  
>"Hehe, 'elders', you really are British aren't you."<p>

Before Nightshade could retaliate, Drake thanked the other drones for their input and told them to get some rest.

"Well, getting back to the topic." Drake began. "Over Cybertron, there was a very unjust system, where bots were simply protoformed to do one specific job, given by the council, with no choice about it. We never had schools like you did, we were taught one job, like factory work, and then expected to do this until we physically weren't able to any more. The people in charge of this system took advantage of their power and abused the authority given to them by caring nothing for the civilian population. The people without power lived in squalor, and were beaten and belittled for no reason. The only hope of a better future was to fight in the gladiator pits, where you could either become famous and gain money, or you could die. Either way was better than the alternative."

He looked up at the sky dreamily, as if remembering some beautiful memory. "And then came Megatron."

Other drones began to listen, as if in a trance. He must have been a pretty special mech to make people support him this much, she thought.

"Megatron was a gladiator, who fought for justice. He stood up against the council, rejected their views and convinced us all to do the same, giving these big, heroic speeches on how we all could be happier and better off in life, and that we should be free to make our own choice. The council tried to stop him, tried to stop us. But Megatron would not let them torment us any longer. He stood up for all of us, even when they cruelly refused to give him the title of Prime."

Nightshade gasped. "What was he like?" She asked.  
>"Heroic." "Brave." "An inspiration." "He was so strong." "He never did anything violent unless all other options had been exhausted." Words came from all corners of the room as everyone tried to explain how great the gladiator was.<p>

Drake waited until it had quieted down before continuing. "After the council rejected Megatron, another bot faced them, a bot known as Orion Pax. He was very close friends with Megatron, but suddenly, he betrayed him, he betrayed us all. He gave his own view of Cybertron, one that was almost the same as the councils. He didn't want change; he thought the terror the planet endured should all stay exactly the same. Then the council, in order to control the rest of the world, and to send out a message, gave him the Matrix of Leadership. He became a Prime. Optimus Prime to be exact."

He shook his head, and a few Vehicons growled at the name.

"We could not simply sit and do nothing, and Megatron knew this. So reluctantly, we began to fight for freedom. Megatron is brave and strong, and he will not back down until the Autobots surrender and we can live in peace. His strength gives is courage, and we know that if we keep fighting for what is right, we will eventually be free. Even if Cybertron is destroyed in the process."

Everyone gave a cheer at the end, yelling "All hail Megatron!"

Nightshade looked startled, and nervously said. "But how are we supposed to live in peace if Cybertron is destroyed? We'll have no home."

Trev, who had been woken up from the cheering, interrupted before Drake could answer. "Megatron's smart, we 'ave faith in him. He'll bring us together so we can rebuild Cybertron, 'nd we can make ev'rything the way it should be. Yeah?" And then he instantly fell asleep again.

The seeker bit her lip, but accepted the facts. There was nothing she could do about it, the most she could try to do was help Megatron and the Decepticons to win. "So, why did you guys crash land, and what was the plan you had."

"Oh yes." Drake nodded. "Well, we are a shipment crew. We've been transporting energon from a far away city to the Decepticon war ship; The Nemesis. We were almost there, but an Autobot ship fired on us and stole all our energon. We crashed here in the confusion during the bombing, but we managed to contact another shipment crew and they're going to pick us up tomorrow. Or today, as it seems. We should recharge now, especially you Nightshade, you've had a long day." He began to stand up. "Any more questions?"

She shook her head, and Drake went to find his own sleeping spot.

Everything went silent again, and Nightshade curled up into a little ball to stop herself shivering. It didn't work, as icy water trickled into all the seams and wires, and the cold air froze up her wings.

She remembered with delight that she still had a few things stored in her subspace, and she reached in and pulled out a small collection of objects. There was a music player- which had a lot of Cybertronian pop music on, and a bit of traditional seeker dancing music too-, an old memory stick that had belonged to her dad which she borrowed, and a school datapad.

She put them back into her subspace, and began to think about everything that had gone on. She was worried to find that she had no emotional response to the fact that her city had gone.

It must have just not sunk in yet, she decided, and she tried to think of some thing smaller. Her parents, her loving, caring parents were gone. Dead. Murdered.

Nothing, no feeling at all. It must have been too much to comprehend, too big a loss.

Ok, so smaller then. Let's think... That cute mech she met once at the datapad shop was gone. That was more annoyance than anything.  
>That femme who ran the datapad shop was gone. Slight twinge there.<br>Then it struck her. There was no longer a datapad store. There were also no more datapads. The datapad she had done all her homework on was gone. The datapad she had kept all her hand made viruses was gone. The datapad her dad had taught her to do this was gone. Her dad was gone. Her parents were gone. Her home was gone.  
>And suddenly all the emotions that were locked away were unlocked and she found herself unable to stop crying. She wasn't entirely sure what she was crying about, but it was something very sad and she simply could not stop.<p>

In the small amount of clear thought she had, Nightshade decided that it would be best not to remind herself why she was sad, and that it would be better for her to just relieve the stress and emotion without having a trigger, so she just let the tears fall until she was tired enough to fall into recharge.

xxx

"Wake up Shadeybabes, the ship's here."

"I'm sorry, what in the name of Primus did you just call me?" Nightshade said, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. The rest of the Vehicons were getting up, and an oblong shaped ship was parked outside. Drake was chatting to a mech outside the door as everybody was climbing in and she noticed that the crew of the other ship were also identical. She filed the question of 'Why?' for a later date.

She followed the other mechs to the ship and smiled at the bot Drake was talking to.

The mech looked at Drake. "Who's the femme?"

"That's Nightshade, we picked her up when we were looking for shelter. She's a nice bot."

"Nice doesn't win the war Drake. But she is pretty lucky, I think she's the only survivor. What a shame, she doesn't even look V16 yet. But Megatron won't find any use for her on the Nemesis, she's as good as offline."

Drake crossed his arms. "What are you talking about, we can't just leave her somewhere. Megatron will find some way to keep her busy on the ship I'm sure. He's a good mech." The other Vehicon sighed.

"You haven't been on the Nemesis yet, have you? Those stories about Megatron may have been true in the beginning, but now that the war's become more ruthless, so has our Lord. Most likely, he'll find her useless and offline her." He glared at Drake. "Don't look at me like that. This is a war, bots change. Do you know we're not even seen as intelligent anymore? Those officers think we're nothing more than expendable drones. I'm not even sure what we're fighting for anymore." They began making their way into the ship, and the ramp lifted and shut behind them.

"Awaiting orders Commander!" The pilot called from the front, leaning on the barrier separating the cockpit and the rest of the ship. "Get ready for take off!" The mech yelled, and Drake grabbed his shoulder.

"Rouke, you can't tell her, after all she's been through. And I don't believe you. Megatron is still fighting for the right thing. If we start doubting that, everything we've lived for is a lie. I will not allow my crew to believe that."

Rouke scoffed, and they looked over to the rest of the mechs in the ship, chatting to each other. Nightshade was excitedly peering over into the cockpit, and when the ship took off, she toppled over the barrier.

"Look at her. She's so young Rouke, maybe the youngest of our species seeing as all the sparklings are now offline. We can't just let her suffer through this war. Surely there has to be some hope, some hope that the war may end soon."

"Look down there Drake." Rouke pointed at the window. "That was the one peaceful city on Cybertron, and it's been bombed. Cybertron has been destroyed beyond repair, that's why Megatron's leaving for another planet, so we can destroy that too. This war is never going to end so long as both Megatron and Optimus are standing."

Drake looked at the smoking ruins of Praxis. "One shall stand, one shall fall." He muttered the old saying, and turned to the cynical Vehicon. "You know, you're very much a 'cube half empty' type of mech aren't you. You never used to be like this."

Rouke looked away. "Cybertron is dead, what do you expect me to feel like."

Nightshade finally persuaded the pilot to let her stay in the cockpit, and she spent her time watching the mech control the ship, eagerly asking about certain buttons.  
>It was approximately a megacycle before she spotted a black spec in the sky, and as they got closer she discovered it was in fact a huge, intimidating purple ship.<p>

"Look, Look! A ship! Wow, it's massive." She called, and the Vehicons stood around the cockpit to get a better look.

"The Nemesis." Drake whispered, and stepped forward.

"Welcome home." Rouke spat out sarcastically, and Drake hesitated, looking back at his old friend with uneasiness as the rest of the crew watched the spaceship draw closer, and the docking bay open.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading folks! <strong>

**I'm going to give another question, and the first person to answer can give me another idea to put in. **

**I think I'm going to make this a regular ****occurrence, so you better have some good ideas, and watch outs for updates!**

**The question is... What are the names of the Lambo Twins?**

**Write your answer and idea in the review section and see you soon! :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Welcome To Hell

Chapter 3: Welcome to Hell

Staring...

_Lord Satan,_

_The personification of lies and treachery in the form of a high healed transvestite,_

_Slender man,_

_A one eyed, two horned, flying purple people eater,_

_Gender bent Regina George,_

_Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson,_

_A Motherfragging DRAGON!_

_Itsy Bitsy Spider,_

_The Gruesome Twosome, except with so much __honor you could slice it and butter toast with it. And it would probably taste pretty good too,_

_And a thousand Steve's._

_(Not all these characters will be seen in this chapter)_

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>If you can guess correctly which characters I have listed above, then you can give me an idea for the story.  
>Nobody's actually given me any yet, but I'll keep the option open for you guys in case someone has a burning desire to see Starscream get slapped round the face with a haddock or something.<p>

Also, the answer to last chapter's question "What are the names of the Lambo Twins?" was Sideswipe and Sunstreaker! Diamond1502 got this question right so you can give me an idea if you want.

Anyway, thank you so much for the reviews! I've never had so many people read one of my stories before, and to know that you like it makes me just so happy! Which is suprising honestly seeing as all you've been reading currently is my OC being stupid and sleeping a lot. Oh well, we can all relate to that!

Ok, so now we are meeting the Decepticons and the story can finally begin on it's slow road to having an actual plot!

See you fantastic people at the end of the page! _POP *Actual sound of a person teleporting to the end of a chapter*_

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Welcome to Hell<strong>

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><p>Nightshade wasn't sure what to expect at this point. Her processor had only got as far as 'Get rescued by the other shipment crew', but now she was walking down the dark corridors of an unfamiliar spaceship with a group of mechs she had only just met. The atmosphere had greatly changed too; no one was talking, and there seemed to be an air of dread and apprehension. Every footstep sounded deafeningly loud, and even the walls seamed to be screaming at them to run.<p>

Overall, she had a bad feeling about this.

Rouke had taken charge, and was leading the group with Drake close behind. The once bright feeling about meeting Megatron was obviously gone from the group, and had been replaced with fear.

She had a _really_ bad feeling about this.

They had been walking for ages, down endless mazes of gloomy hallways, but eventually they turned into a final corridor which ended in a large door with two guards on each side, who also looked identical. _Maybe everyone in the Decepticons looked the same. _She thought._ And maybe the Autobots were all the same but a different colour._ That would be confusing, but she came back to reality as they stopped at the doors.

"Hey Rouke, long time no see. How've you been?" One guard asked, while the other turned away quickly and muttered into his com.

"Oh yeah, just fine and dandy. In fact, I think I might just jump into a song and dance routine." He spoke in a completely monotone voice.

"Ok, ok. No need to be so snarky, I was just asking. Oh, and just a hint, you might not want to have that sort of attitude when talking to Lord Megatron. I don't think he'll take it too kindly." He said, and turned to his partner who nodded.  
>"Ok, in you go. Good look." Drake nodded in thanks, and the guard keyed in the access code to open the door.<p>

They began to walk through into the main bridge, and as Nightshade passed she smiled at the guards, whose visors flashed in surprise.

They shut the doors behind them and the guards turned to each other. "Who the pit was that?"  
>The guard shrugged. "No idea, but I can guaranty she will never leave that room alive."<br>They sighed sadly. "Shame, she was kinda cute..."  
>"Chevron!"<br>"What? She was. Don't judge me dude. I mean, when was the last time we've seen a femme around here?"  
>"Primus you're so weird."<br>Chevron smirked. "Hehe, at least my tastes in mechs aren't as weird as Steve's."  
>"Hehe, you've got that right. Starscream, I mean really."<p>

They chuckled for a bit, and then trailed of into a sigh, going back to guarding the door.

xxx

The tall, silver gladiator stood facing the front window as the shipment crew entered, and Nightshade hid behind Drake as soon as she saw him. Megatron really was huge, and even though everyone had said such great things about him, she couldn't help feeling like she should be very wary.

"Lord Megatron, the shipment crew's have arrived."

"Yes, I am aware of that, thank you for alerting me to the painfully obvious." Megatron growled, as he turned to face the room, and a silver femme stood next to him rolled her eyes at the flinch that went through the Vehicons. Drake took a protective step nearer Nightshade, and she saw him visibly tense.

The rest of the Vehicons looked too stunned to move, and she peaked round to get a look at the warlord. His build was exactly like you'd expect from a gladiator, strong and powerful, and he held himself with a great air of superiority. She took note of his large arm cannon, and his scarred face, currently held in a fierce look, and his denta were as pointed as a Sharkticon's. She hid behind Drake again.

"Have you brought the energon supplies?" He asked, and Rouke nudged Drake forwards.

"We-we lost one ship after we got shot down, but we have still managed to bring the other ship and at least a hundred cubes of energon." Drake hesitantly spoke, choosing his words carefully. He still couldn't believe that the Megatron he thought he'd known would be so threatening.

"Fools!"  
>Drake took a step back. "You lost an entire ship to the Autobots? That's a hundred energon cubes that the enemy have, and I don't. You had better not screw up like that when you're staying here."<p>

"Staying? Aren't we going back out to collect more?" He asked, and Megatron walked back over to the window.

"No. We are going to follow Optimus Prime to another planet, one that is rich in energon, and in the mean time, you are going to work on the ship like everyone else."  
>He glared at them, but abruptly stopped, and looked in the middle of the group. Nightshade felt his gaze reach her, and she made herself smaller so he wouldn't notice her, but it was too late.<p>

"It looks like you brought a guest with you. Why don't you come up here instead of hiding behind your friends?"

Nightshade's spark beat fast, and she suddenly forgot how to use her legs as she stumbled to the front of the crowd, and Drake gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. She stood trembling in front of the much taller leader, and the seeker next to him gave her a look of disgust.

He stared down at her for what felt like a millennia, until he finally asked. "How old are you?"

"Um, I-I'm 1599 sir." She murmured, and found her vision drifting in nervousness to his arm cannon.

"I see, and do you know how to fight?"

"Um, n-no."

"Right, so you're not even fully grown and you have no use to me whatsoever?" He spat out, and turned towards the Vehicons. "What made you think you could just drag some random bot into my ship? She could be an Autobot spy for we know. And you though you would just bring her along? Are you all malfunctioning?" He roared, and Nightshade noticed with horror that he began to power up his cannon.

"She'll only be a waste of energon, we can't afford to keep her here. Maybe this should teach you all some sense." The warlord pointed his cannon straight at her helm and she saw a purple light begin to form. She let out a cry and covered her head with her arms.

"Wait!" Trev pushed to the front and reached out to stop Megatron. "My lord, wait! She's not useless, she c'n do loads of stuff with a computer mainframe. Stuff none of us 'ave any idea 'ow to do."

Megatron hesitated and slowly lowered the cannon. "Go on." He watched Trev carefully and the femme next to him scoffed.

The drone stuttered as he thought quickly. "Well, she's an expert in viruses. Knows everythin' 'bout them. She can even make 'em herself. Whole new, custom made viruses, you could do anythin' with them. If you send unique viruses to the Autobots, they'll never know how to fix 'em. You see?"

Megatron thought for a moment, and the silver femme took this opportunity to speak. Or shriek, as the case may be.

"Megatron, you surely cannot be considering letting this femme live."

HOLY PRIMUS! Nightshade's mouth fell open in shock. That femme... was a mech! And one with the most horrible screechy voice she had ever heard. Oh my Primus... Oh sparks that is weird. And he has high heals and everything! Oh Primus, and here she was, thinking she could get to know another femme and do femme things and feel less intimidated among all these tall freaky mechs. But no, he had to be another weird mech. Though honestly, even if he was a femme, he wouldn't have done femme things with her anyway. He looked far too arrogant for that.

She was swiftly brought out of her train of thought as Megatron basically bitch slapped the seeker across the face.

"Shut up Starscream! I didn't ask for your worthless opinion." He snapped, and turned to face Nightshade again.

"Although she lacks the ability to fight, we may find her skills useful. And who knows, in the future she may prove to be a worthy asset."

The Vehicons visibly slumped in relief, and Trev almost cheered that his quick thinking saved Nightshade's spark. Nightshade was very relieved, but a part of her mind screamed in panic that she really wasn't as great as Trev made her out to be, and that maybe Megatron would find out that she couldn't work as hard as he wanted and shoot her.

"What is your name femme?" The gladiator asked and Nightshade looked up with a slight smile of fear.

"I'm Nightshade, um... My lord." She stammered, and Megatron turned to the corner of the room where another mech stood at the consol.

"Well, you shall be working alongside Soundwave, my communications officer. He is my most loyal soldier, so he will know if you start to think of betraying me."

Starscream smirked. "Working with Soundwave? Oh, that's a fate worse than death, I can hardly stand 5 cycles around him."

"If you want to keep your job as Second in Command, I suggest shutting up before I personally tear of your mouth!"

As Megatron began to yell at Starscream, Nightshade gazed over at the mech she was going to be working with. He was surrounded by shadows and looked like a walking silhouette, but she could make out that he was tall and slender, and had long arms which were tapping away at the consol. He wasn't looking over to the scene in the middle of the room so she couldn't see his face, but the seeker knew he was concentrating solely on his work.

She wasn't looking forward to working with him, and she hadn't even properly seen him yet.

"Right" Megatron finished shouting at his SIC and turned back to the rooms occupants.

"I think we're done here. The guards will show you to the drone's quarters, and you can make your self ready for tomorrow. As for you." He looked at Nightshade. "You will need some proper quarters if you're going to work here, but first of all, go to the medbay and have Knockout check you over. He'll then show you where a spare berthroom is. Then you can get to work."

Nightshade smiled in thanks to Trev, and he flashed his visor back.

He tapped his chin. "Is there anything else...? Ah yes, just as a reminder to all of you never to speak against me again."  
>He swiftly powered up his cannon and shot Trev through the spark chamber.<p>

Nightshade gave a startled scream and covered her mouth with her hands, too taken aback to do anything.

Starscream laughed, and Megatron simply began to walk away, implying that the conversation was over. Nightshade almost fell over as her knee joints gave way, but Drake gripped her shoulder and led her away, telling her to vent slowly and that it was going to be all right.

As they reached the other side of the door, one of the guards came over and began to walk with them down the hallway, following the other guard to the drone quarters.

Nightshade's legs trembled as she leaned on Drake, and the guard next to them held her up on the other side, speaking softly.  
>"Hey, don't feel upset. At least it wasn't you, you know, it could have been worse. Besides, I think you're super lucky. When we heard the shot, we thought for certain you had been killed. I'm Chevron by the way, and my partner over there is Ricky. He's too shy to talk to new people so he'll probably avoid you for a while, but he's really nice once you get to know him."<p>

"Hia." Nightshade whispered, still quite shocked, but she gave a shaky smile at Chevron for making her feel a little better. "Um, I think I can stand now." She said to the pair, and they let her go so she could walk on her own.

Drake looked over at Chevron. "You seem oddly at ease with the fact that one of us got shot."  
>"We're used to it by now." Chevron shrugged. "The officers don't think we have proper intelligence, and seeing as we all look the same, they assume we're expendable." He sighed.<p>

"But, at least we're alive, and we have energon and shelter so it's not all bad. So, what job were you given? Medic? Scientist? Working with us?" Chevron asked, and Nightshade shook her head.  
>"No, I'm working with some mech named Soundwave." She said and Chevron winced.<p>

"Soundwave? Oh you poor, poor femme, I feel really sorry for you." Drake kicked his shin, and glared at him.

"Don't scare her." He said and Nightshade looked worried.

"Why is that bad? What's wrong with Soundwave?" She asked, looking concerned. "He won't hurt me will he?"

"Umm, well I don't know, probably not, as long as you annoy him. No one really knows much about Soundwave, but what we do know shows he isn't really the most sociable of bots. Ah, here we are"

They had reached the lower part of the ship that contained the quarters for the drones, and everyone was coming together in the central room. The drone's quarters were not brilliant. There was one huge hall in the middle which had mining equipment and energon cubes pushed to the edges to make room for everybody, and lots of hallways separated off from this, where all the berthrooms were. The berthrooms were not large by any means; they had a bunk bed in each for the two occupants that stayed there, and there was hardly any space to do anything but recharge so mostly the Vehicons stayed in the hall during the day.

Chevron waved to a group of Vehicons sitting on energon cubes, and went to join them with Nightshade and Drake. Others from the shipment crew started to come over too, hoping to stay close to their leader.

"So guys." Chevron addressed the former Vehicons. "We've got some new guys joining us so we need to get some spare rooms sorted out, but I think we should all say hi to our new seeker; Nightshade." She waved shyly, and Chevron clapped her on the back.

"Nightshade here had got the _delightful_ task of working with Soundwave for the next few stellar-cycles, or possibly for a century or two, who knows, but I think we should tell her a bit about the mech before she meets him, don't you?"

"Oh Primus, working with Soundwave? I'd run, run before it's too late youngling." One Vehicon joked, and the drone next to him leaned forward.

"Soundwave is a strange mech. He never talks, and never takes off his mask. All we know about him is that he is an extreme hacker, and can pick up radio signals from across the universe, meaning he knows almost everything about everyone. He watches everyone through security cameras, all around the ship, and if he sees anything out of the ordinary, he reports it to Megatron, or deals with it himself." He shook his head. "That mech scares the pit out of me, I don't know about you guys. I'm Teevo, just so you know."

"Some say that his breath smells of magnesium, and that all his legs are hydraulic."

"... What the actual frag dude."

"Soundwave is really freaky." Another mech spoke, giving a shiver as he did. "He is totally silent, only playing back recordings of other bot's words if he wants to say something. One time, I saw him in battle and he totally pummelled this Autobot. There was hardly anything left of him. He also has these really weird tentacles that he uses for downloading data, but they also can electrocute you and are really scary."

"This is not making me feel very good about working with him." Nightshade said, rearranging herself on the floor in nervousness.

"One time, he brought a sparkling into the main room, then he turned on the overhead screens so we saw him. Then he ripped off it's head and ate it." Nightshade's optics went wide.

"Yeah, that's not true. Don't scare the femme, she's going to be in the same room as him for mega-cycles every day."

"Some say he naturally faces magnetic north, and that he's confused by stairs."

"...No seriously... What are you saying?"

"Some say that his voice can only be heard by turbofoxes, and that he has two sets of knees."

"...Are you over energised or something? Cos you're worrying me."  
>Nightshade laughed as the other mechs turned to look at their friend in confusion.<p>

"Some say that he has no understanding of clouds, and if you tune in your com. link to 883.4 you can actually hear his thoughts."

"Admittedly, that would be pretty cool is it was true. Can you imagine? No, but really mate, what are you doing?"

"Some say he once threw a microwave at a homeless bot, and that if he caught fire he'd burn for 1000 solar-cycles."

"Stinn, where are you even getting these from?"

"Some say that if you lick his chest it tastes exactly the same as Iacon, and that when he slows down, brake lights come on in his aft."

"Stinn, that is the weirdest thing I have ever heard."

"Some say that if you hold him in the wrong way he doesn't work properly, and that he once got bonded to an energon dispenser."

"... Are you done?"

Stinn laughed. "Yeah, that's all I've got. But I'll probably have more tomorrow if you ask."  
>"Erm, no, that's ok dude. I think I can live without hearing any more of those." Teevo stated, looking suspiciously at him.<p>

Nightshade sniggered, and leaned her head on her fist. She remembered what Megatron had said to her and gasped, hoping she wouldn't be in trouble for being late. "Megatron said I had to go get a check up with Knockout. Do you know where he is?"

"Oh, you have an appointment with the good doctor do you? I'll take you there." Teevo offered, and the seeker nodded in thanks.  
>"Thanks for making me feel welcome you guys." She said to the rest of them, and Chevron brushed the comment off with a wave of his servo.<br>"Don't worry about it. You come down and see us anytime. It would be nice to have someone other than us Vehicons to talk to. Maybe you can give us all the gossip about the other officers." Nightshade grinned, and followed Teevo to the medbay.

Teevo led her back to the elevator they had arrived through, and pressed the button to go up. "So, how are you finding the Decepticons so far?"

She sighed. "Well, it's not at all like Drake said. I thought Megatron was supposed to be a heroic mech who fought for peace, but it looks to me like he's just as bad as the council. And that other mech Starscream, I was convinced he was a femme."

Teevo burst out laughing and leaned on the door to stop himself from falling over. It didn't work as that was the moment the door slid open to let then exit, and he fell face first on the ground, still laughing. Nightshade looked alarmed. "It's not that funny. If I said anything he might have killed me." But that only made him laugh harder.

"Oh Primus. Imagine if you _had_ said something, that would have been hilarious. His face-Hahahaha-Oh Primus."

He slowly got up, holding his middle, and took deep vents to try and calm down. "Haaaa... Yeah, he would have killed you. But anyway. As for Megatron, you shouldn't worry. He still fights for the right thing, he's just become more hardened and tough. We know he's got his spark in the right place, and maybe his attitude is just what we need."

"He shot Trev without any thought." Nightshade cried, and Teevo looked away, not replying.

The rest of the trip was in silence, and Nightshade regretted saying anything about Trev. Teevo was mostly looking somewhere ahead of him, but not quite focused, like he was deep in though, and Nightshade felt very uncomfortable. She wasn't sure whether to say anything or to leave him to think, but Teevo looked up suddenly as they reached a dented, energon splattered door.

"Well, here's the medbay." He turned and looked at her over his shoulder. "And Nightshade, I hope you like it here. We're all in this together to bring Cybertron back to glory, so as long as we fight as one, we should all be ok. Anytime you've got a problem, you come give us a visit." He nudged her. "I've got to go, I'm supposed to move all the energon you guys delivered. See you later." Teevo waved and jogged off.

Nightshade waved back, and once he had disappeared from sight, she turned to the door. The keypad was crusted with dried energon, and she really didn't want to touch it, so she looked for a relatively clean spot on the door, and knocked.

"Oh for the love of Primus, what now? I just got the buffer out." She heard a muffled yell behind the door and took a nervous step back. The door slid open to reveal a red and white mech, holding a rotary buffer in one hand. He looked her up and down, and then gave her a confused look. "Who the scrap are you?"

"Um, I'm Nightshade. Are you Knockout?" The mech nodded. "Megatron said that you'd give me a check-up, and then show me to my room, if that's ok with you." She trailed off in nervousness, and the mech looked dumbstruck.

"Did he now? Well this is the first I heard about it. How do I know you're not just some Autobot spy trying to get information out of me?" He questioned, and Nightshade stammered.

"Oh yeah, Megatron gave me a message earlier on saying that some femme was coming by for a check up. Sorry, I forgot." Another mech called from inside the room, and Knockout turned in annoyance.

"Gee, that would have been helpful to know. I could have organised my equipment." He looked back at the seeker, and gestured inside the room. "Ok, in you go."

Nightshade muttered thanks and walked inside. The inside of the medbay was very different to what she had been expecting after seeing the door. The white walls were spotless, as were the medical berths which were lined up against the wall, and the floor was practically gleaming. There was a back room, and a large blue mech was leaning in the doorway, holding a cube of energon.

"Crikey, you really got scuffed up didn't you? Look at all those dents and scratches." The red medibot mused, running a digit along her shoulder guard, and she blushed in embarrassment, feeling very self-conscious."Anyway, get up on the berth while I find my scanner."

Nightshade did as she was asked, and swung her legs as she on the edge of the medical berth. The large mech swigged his cube and walked over to her, making her wings lower close to her back as her energon froze in her fuel lines.  
>"No need to be frightened, I'm not gonna hurt you." He chuckled. "I'm Breakdown; Wrecker and Knockout's assistant." He held out a hand, and Nightshade shook it, smiling in relief.<br>"Hi there. Sorry, you were just really big and you look like you could crush my helm like a piece of glass." She admitted, and Breakdown laughed.

"That's alright, you should see Knockout's face whenever he's just buffed and I come close. He acts like if I poke him his entire body would just become covered in scratches."

Knockout looked up from where he was searching through shelves. "And for good reason. Do you know how long it takes to get a finish as good as mine? I will not have you scuff it up with your giant, careless hands. And you really should have told me earlier that I needed to give a check-up, I have no idea where my scanner is."

Nightshade looked guilty. "If you want, I can come back later?"

"Oh my Primus, this femme is just too adorable for words." Breakdown cried and gave Nightshade a huge bear hug. She gasped in surprise, but laughed when he picked her up, still hugging her.  
>"Knockout, she is so cute. We have to keep her." He called and Knockout looked up in alarm.<p>

"Put her down! You'll give her internal damage in a minute, and I don't want to have to fix that." He flailed his arms around and Breakdown reluctantly put her down. He sat down on the berth opposite her and thought for a moment.

"Hey Knockout, didn't you last use the scanner when you had to give Soundwave a check-up?"

Knockout looked up. "That's right, so I must have left it..." He rushed over to the door, and sat on shelf next to it was a small metal object, which he picked up.

"Soundwave is so weird. He will not sit down, so I have to scan him right by the door. Then once I tell him the results he just walks straight out again." He got Nightshade to sit up and hold out various limbs while he scanned them.

"I really hope everyone's exaggerating about Soundwave, because I've got to work with him." Nightshade stated, and Breakdown gasped dramatically, clutching her round the middle.

"Primus no! You can't go. We won't let you. Don't go into the light Nightshade, you have so much to live for!" He jokingly cried, and Knockout huffed.  
>"Breakdown please, you're messing up my instruments. But damn Nightshade, that's harsh. You had better like silence, because you'll be getting a lot of that."<p>

Nightshade sighed. "Yeah, I heard. Apparently his legs are hydraulic, and he has no understanding of clouds."  
>Knockout laughed, and stopped scanning her. "Well, the good news is, you have no injuries. The bad news is that you may have lost your sanity by the end of the day. Also your paint job is horrendous, so <em>please<em> borrow my buffer... Once I've used it of course. I cannot stand seeing such a pretty femme like you walk around looking so messy."

"That reminds me." Nightshade said. "Apparently, you were going to show me to my quarters."  
>Knockout looked surprised. "Oh, well I don't know where any spare rooms are, but I'll have a look."<p>

Breakdown went to get a data-pad out of the back room, and Knockout explained that the two lived in the medbay, so their personal quarters were through the door at the back. That way, if there was an emergency, they would always be close by.

"Well, let's see the map then." Breakdown passed the data-pad to the medic and Knockout showed Nightshade the map of the Nemesis.

"Right, so if you look here, you can see that you're going to be working...In this room here." He pointed to the outline of a room, quite far away from the medbay. "This is the monitor room, and it's where Soundwave is always working. As for spare quarters..." He swiped around the map to find where a non-assigned room was, but found that one had been already allocated to her.  
>"Oh, looks like this one is yours. Hang on... Oh, looks like this day just keeps worse and worse for you my dear." He pointed at the map and Nightshade looked at where she was staying. It was near to the monitor room, which was good, however it was on a corridor that had only two rooms on it, which were very far away from any other personal quarters.<p>

"Why is this bad? Who am I staying next to?" She asked, and the two mechs winced, giving her a look of sympathy. She understood what they were trying to say, and looked back at the two rooms on the map.

She was going to be staying right next to Soundwave.

Great.

"Hey, look on the bright side. Do you see what a fantastic opportunity this is for us?" Knockout grinned, nudging Nightshade. "You are going to be with Soundwave practically all the time. If you can get information on him, we might just dig up some secrets about our loyal communications officer. You must tell us all the gossip, ok?"

"Ok." She said, unsure.

Breakdown patted her on the back. "Well, seeing as you've been given the all clear, I'd say you have to get to work now." Nightshade nodded, and began to walk to the door.  
>"Thanks for you're help guys." She said, and Knockout winked.<br>"No problem, good luck with Soundwave. Remember, borrow my buffer and get yourself cleaned up."  
>"Try not to gouge out your own processor after a mega-cycle."<br>"Try to find out anything you can on the mech."  
>"And overall, don't die."<br>"If all else fails, just throw a cloud at him."  
>Nightshade laughed. "See ya." She waved, and the door shut behind her.<p>

Right, now she had to find the monitor room. This day had been exhausting. She had already left her home city, traveled in a spaceship, got onto a bigger spaceship, had one of her friends murdered by someone she was supposed to trust, mistaken a mech for a femme, met a whole new group of mechs that all looked the same, got a check-up from a neat freak medic and his wrecker friend, and now she had to work with a mech who she hadn't even properly met, yet apparently was worse than Unicron himself.

And it wasn't even midday yet.

* * *

><p><strong><em>*Pop*<em> Teleportation is fun!**

**Breakdown really is just a big teddy bear.**

**Anyway, this chapter had taken me ages to write so sorry about the wait, but luckily it fragging huge so that should make up for it.**

**So this time, the question is**

**Name which characters I have described at the top of the page.**

**If you get them all right, you get to suggest an idea. ****Which no one has yet...**

**Thank you for reading this far, and I hope you like how I'm portraying everyone, because I am not very good at this.**

**Please review, follow and favorite. And I'll see you at the next chapter!  
><strong>

_**Pop _*Actual sound of a person teleporting to the next chapter*_**_


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